A Flower in Hell

Two weeks after leaving the army, Dong-shik (Cho Hae-won), arrives in post-Korean War Seoul in search of his brother, Yeong-shik (Kim Hak-a), hoping to bring him back home to take care of their mother. The city is destitute, with few jobs, high crime, a huge American military presence, and a thriving black market economy.

The next day, Dong-shik finds Yeong-shik at the market and chases him through the streets. He only catches up when Yeong-shik stops to flirt with his girlfriend, Sonya, an in demand prostitute. Later at the river, Dong-shik meets Sonya's friend Julie, who speaks about the tribulations of being a prostitute and jokingly offers to marry him. When Yeong-shik comes back from his date, Dong-shik tries to convince makes his case for them to leave the city but Yeong-shik insists on staying. Yeong-shik tries to leave him with some money before being called out to work.

Later that night, Yeong-shik and his gang sneaks onto the American base during a party to steal supplies, employing prostitutes to distract the guards. Dong-shik arrives at Sonya's residence to try to convince her to stop seeing his brother. Instead, Sonya seduces Dong-shik and his family photograph drops out of his pockets as he lays with her. They later go on a date by the river, which Yeong-shik eventually finds out about and beats Dong-shik for.

Dong-shik, having failed to retrieve his brother and unable to pursue his relationship with Sonya, prepares to head back home. At the crossroad, he sees Sonya greeting Yeong-shik goodbye. Before Dong-shik leaves, he has one final lunch with her.

Sonya offers to leave Yeong-shik for good and suggest that they could move to Hong Kong. She even reports Yeong-shik's heist so that she could runaway with Dong-shik with no strings attached. When Dong-shik finds out, he leaves immediately to find his brother. Sonya follows shortly after.

With the tip, the military police easily prevents the gang's activities. Yeong-shik and others are slowly killed one after another as they attempt to escape from the police's pursuit. Yeong-shik eventually gets shot himself and crashes into the river.

Dong-shik finally catches up to Yeong-shik and retrieves him from the river bank. When Sonya arrives, she tries to convince Dong-shik not to leave her. He ignores her pleas and leaves to retrieve his truck. Yeong-shik overhears her confessions and slowly chases Sonya further into the river. Deterred by the mud and failing to beg for mercy, Sonya eventually succumbs to Yeong-shik's approach and dies by his knife. Yeong-shik then dies by his own injuries.

With his brother and lover dead, Dong-shik prepares to head home. Julie sees him off and returns his family photograph. Dong-shik proposes to Julie and they both head back to the countryside.

• Choi Eun-hee as So-nya[note 2]
• Kim Hak as Yeong-shik
• Jo Hae-won as Dong-shik
• Kang Sun-hee as Judy

• "The Flower in Hell (Ji-oghwa) (1958)". Korean Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
• Paquet, Darcy. "A Flower in Hell (1958)". koreanfilm.org. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-15.

Jiokhwa (1958) on IMDb